Stereo Hearts
by TwlghtDrmr
Summary: /AU\ He circled across the room from her, his eyes on hers. Her heart began to beat. And for the first time in hundreds of years, his heart began to beat once more. /FerrisWheelShipping\


**. s t e r e o h e a r t s .**

a o n e – shot

_/ / my heart's a stereo / /_

_/ / it beats for you, so listen close / /_

_/ / hear my thoughts in every no-oh-oh-te / /_

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><p><em>make me your radio, and turn me up when you feel l o w<em>

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><p>Love that song. Love Gym Class Heroes and Maroon 5's Adam Levine! They make a fantastic combination!<p>

Anyways, this is a vampire story if you didn't realize it yet. Lol and it is AU, as well as a one-shot. Just a short vampire story for all of you!

This is just a short look into an alternate universe I have imagined N and Touko in… By the way, I hate the name Hilda so… Touko it is lol. I mean honestly, what the hell, Hilda? LOL.

So anyways, just a short look into an alternate universe that's been buzzing in my mind for a while. I'll try to update everything else soon lol.

Now that I think about it… the title and the lyrics/song don't really fit with the alternate universe I've created. Lol oh well!

Oh and just for clarification, the dub name for Bianca is err, Bianca lol but her Japanese name is "Bel" which is the name I'll be using, just to keep the names consistent.

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><p><em>Summary: AU\ He circled across the room from her, his eyes on hers. Her heart began to beat. And for the first time in hundreds of years, his heart began to beat once more. /FerrisWheelShipping\_

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><p>Touko hated these dances.<p>

She sipped on her drink, the edge of the clear glass pressed close to her lips. Her eyes were narrowed in annoyance, and she pursed her lips unhappily. She was grateful now, that she wasn't wearing any sort of lip stain, but rather a clear gloss that made her lips shine brightly under the dim crystal chandeliers of the ballroom. She adjusted her mask slightly, an intricate design of black and silver lines, black feathers protruding from the side. She took in a slight breath, tipping her champagne glass as she sipped on her drink quietly, surveying her surroundings.

She hated these dances with a passion.

Bel however, loved them. She loved living on the edge, knowing that some of these aristocrats weren't human. She loved chasing after the mysterious and the occult, quietly, with her demure personality and sweet face. Bel loved putting herself in these dangerous situations, regardless of what her parents insisted or said. They hated that she liked to appear at these masquerade balls where, Touko noted as she watched a girl get led away by a tall man, some of these non-human aristocrats were most likely hunting for their breakfast.

Touko scrunched her nose up, before placing her champagne glass down on a passing tray. She didn't want to drink any more that night. She had to stay aware and alert if she didn't want to end up like the girl that just got led away by the tall man. She looked around, trying to find Bel.

Her dress was heavy though, and Touko sighed with frustration as she pulled her dress up slightly, still trying to look poised in the process. But her skirts were heavy, so she simply dropped them and moved slowly among the crowd of aristocrats, smelling alcohol and sex and smoke. She thought she could smell death somewhere amongst those other scents, but she simply shook it off, not wanting to think about it. She looked around trying to spot Bel's familiar blonde hair and green mask, but she was nowhere to be found. Touko began to panic – what could have possibly happened to Bel?

She noticed some aristocrats glancing at her – the slight tilt of their masks giving them away. She knew then and there that those aristocrats weren't human – they were most certainly vampires. They probably sensed the race of her pulse. She knew they were attracted to it, the slight rush of blood that filled the veins of the humans at the masquerade ball.

Touko maneuvered her way through the crowd, looking around attempting to find her friend. She felt the blood pounding through her veins, and she began to fear the worst had happened to her friend. She stopped suddenly though, breathing a sigh of relief, when she saw Bel's familiar head bobbing in the crowd in front of her. Sighing softly to herself, Touko slumped a little as she pressed her fingers to her temples in annoyance. Bel was talking to an aristocrat – Cheren, if Touko recalled correctly (as if those masquerade masks really hid anybody's identity, pffft) with much fervor and from where Touko was standing, she could see her mouth moving rapidly. Cheren looked just as annoyed as she was feeling, and Touko pushed a hand to her mouth, stifling giggles. He was pretty cute, Touko knew, but a little too stiff and somewhat of a power freak. She rolled her eyes a bit at this, before turning around and maneuvering her way out of the dancing crowd. She skirted the edge of the dance floor, watching the other aristocrats move in perfect synch, dancing a traditional waltz. The sound of the cellos, piano and violins lulled all around her and Touko felt herself relax a little bit.

She had the tendency to get too stiff and tense at these parties – always being on alert made her nervous and on edge. But for now, she let herself relax into the soft music and watched the sway of the aristocrats in perfect waltz.

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><p>N watched the crowd from behind his mask with something akin to boredom. He leaned against the wall, somewhat in the shadows, as if he were trying to hide from the crowd. His father had held this ball in an attempt to get him to hunt, because he hadn't done so in quite a while – mostly out of sheer laziness – but N wasn't interested. He had gotten bored quickly of the humans here – they were selfish, cruel and only out to further their own reputations. Aristocrats were the worst, never valuing the lives of those they considered "below" them, and N had no desire to fraternize with any of them. Not even to hunt.<p>

He glanced around the ballroom, watching the other aristocrats and pointing out mentally to himself the ones he knew weren't human. Most of the non-humans were men, but the room held a somewhat equal amount of females and males. However even N knew there were just a slight few more women then there were men, simply because it made hunting easier for the others. With the majority of the vampires being male in the ballroom, females were easy victims and usually came with more than one type of pleasure, other than just the pleasure of hunting. N scowled in disgust. He'd learned over the years that although humans were cruel and selfish, vampires had also developed a sense of cruelty in their own sick and twisted ways. And he despised his father for putting those thoughts into his head – even if he'd meant to do the opposite.

Rolling his eyes some more, N removed himself from the wall and began to walk closer to the center of the ballroom. He scanned the room once more and his gaze landed on a single girl, standing somewhat behind the crowd against the wall, the look on her face that of serenity. He frowned, when he found himself wondering who she could be. He normally didn't have interest in mortals, and the mask was doing a good job of hiding what her identity was. If she was indeed an aristocrat, he should have known who she was.

But then again, she could be that aristocrat the others had been talking about – the one who eluded them all. She was a curious thing, not very interested in the high life of the upper echelon, but rather preferred to play with the children of the village and was relatively more comfortable with people whom most aristocrats considered the lower rung of society.

Raising his eyebrows, he deduced that this girl standing somewhat hidden from the rest of the crowd was indeed this mysterious aristocrat. He watched her facial features closely – she was calm, almost as though she were so relaxed she'd zoned out with a pleasant smile on her face, relaxed in the sound of classical music. However, as if she'd sensed him watching her, she blinked a few times in alarm before her eyes looked around discreetly – her head never moving. It was then he knew she saw him. He tried to will himself to look away.

He could not.

Touko's eyes widened when she saw an aristocrat staring at her from behind his mask, his unruly light emerald colored hair pulled back in a low ponytail. He was watching her with something akin to curiosity and surprise – as if he was amazed at the fact that he was even interested in her. Touko felt a twinge of annoyance at this thought, but quickly shook it off. He was watching her too closely, and Touko knew she should move out of his sight. She had a feeling he wasn't human. She tried to make herself look away, but soon came to the realization that her eyes were fixated on his – and although she wanted to look away, she couldn't. She thought for a moment that perhaps this was just a trick of his, a trick of his kind, but she knew deep down that it wasn't.

She was interested in him, as much as he was in her.

She lifted herself from the wall, her hands falling to her sides as she watched him with critical eyes. He raised his eyebrows; as if he were questioning what she was going to do next. Almost as if he was daring her to look away, and she knew he would surely enjoy the chase if she did.

So, she did.

A part of her was thrilled when she looked away and she could still feel his eyes on the back of her head. She moved lightly between the other aristocrats, before turning her head to glance between all the heads standing outside the crowd and past all the heads dancing their perfect waltz in the center of the ballroom to see the man circling – stalking, like a predator almost – his eyes watching her small frame intently. Touko's breath hitched as she looked away quickly, her heart beating quickly in her rib cage and her cheeks flaring to life. Her pulse was pounding in her ears and she was just now beginning to realize why Bel liked the thrill of these dances so much.

She slowed her walk to a few paces per minute, standing and pausing to look around, as if she were interested in other things. It was like a game, and she was leading while he was following – and she loved it. A part of Touko was embarrassed that she enjoyed being pursued so much but hell – she was a girl, just like everybody else, so what else should she have expected?

Touko stopped, staring out the large windows that lined the entire half of the ballroom, and the open doors that led out to the garden. She turned around slowly then, expecting to see eyes across the room burning into hers. And she was greeted with just that – the man was still watching her, a slight smirk on his face, as if he were amused by the game she was playing. She smirked back playfully as well, as if willing him to continue pursuing her. He raised an eyebrow at this, and knew that he'd accepted the challenge. She slowly began walking forward, as he began to walk the opposite direction. His eyes were burning into hers and she couldn't look away. They circled each other slowly from across the room, the look in his eyes darkening. She was surprised to find that she enjoyed the dark look that grazed the edges of his pupils, the lust and curiosity and smug look all tumbling from his eyes and into her soul.

She sucked in a breath, feeling her heart began to beat hard in her chest. It was the first time she'd ever felt like this before.

N watched the girl closely – and found himself greatly enjoying this little game she was playing. It surprised him to an extent, and he only became more interested in this ambiguous figure skirting between tall aristocrats, her eyes leaving a blazing trail of heat that gathered straight in his gut. He could practically feel her heart beating faster and faster in her chest and he willed himself not to reach up, the pure want to feel the beat beneath his fingers, his fangs, surprising him greatly and he almost stepped back in surprise. But then she turned slowly to look at him once again and he felt something in the world shift.

And for the first time in hundreds of years, he felt his heart begin to beat once more.

Touko watched the man quietly, as the perfect aristocrats stopped their waltz in the middle of the floor, the music fading to a stop and the shuffle of papers and quiet murmurs signaling the change of song. Aristocrats mingled all around her, but neither she nor the man moved. Then, as if they both knew what was going to happen next, they both began to walk slowly onto the floor. The other aristocrats paid them no attention, even though they knew N's father was the host of the party.

They met near the middle of the floor, the other perfectly partnered aristocrats moving towards each other once again as the music slowly warbled to a start. N looked at the girl whose mask hid her face and her identity with a smirk, before bowing deeply to her. Touko was taken aback for a moment, before dropping to the obligatory curtsey. N stood straight again and Touko admired the straight lines of his broad shoulders and tall legs. She wasn't at all taken aback when he picked her hand up, before pressing a light kiss to it. She could feel the smirk of his lips on the back of her hand, as though he were extremely amused with her.

"My name is N." N's lips grazed the back of her hand as he spoke, his voice deep yet light and soothing on her ears. Touko took in a deep breath at the sound, her eyes wide and shining.

"Touko." She responded, breathily.

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><p>The repetitive use of the words perfect and aristocrats and such was on purpose, by the way lol. I can't really give you a specific reason, but it's mostly just to show the contempt both of them have for the higher echelon of society that they usually just refer to them as "aristocrats", nothing more, nothing less. And no, Bel and Touko didn't grow up with Cheren in this story lol. Oh, and I tried to keep N as in character as possible but it's a little hard because I'm like, pretty much taking out everything he believed in during the game so lol yeah. And yeah I know this was really short LOL. And yeah I know like NOTHING happened ahahahahaha….<p>

Anyways I was thinking of maybe elaborating on this theme, with Touko and N in this sort of alternate universe in a different, multi-chaptered story… But I don't know. Anyways, I'll try to update my other stories soon! I've been really swamped with schoolwork so hopefully this will tide you over? Maybe? No? Lol!

(Although it probably won't 'cause like there was no romance in this story lol sorry!)


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